Monday, June 29, 2015

Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Volume 1Ed. by David Sobel, Peter Vallentyne & Steven Wall(Oxford University Press, 2015)336 pagesDescriptionThis is the inaugural volume of Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy (OSPP). Since its revival in the 1970s political philosophy has been a vibrant field in philosophy, one that intersects with jurisprudence, normative economics, political theory in political science departments, and just war theory. OSPP aims to publish some of the best contemporary work in political philosophy and these closely related subfields. Contents [preview]Introduction [preview] - Steven WallPart I. Democracy1. Justice, Political and Social - Philip Pettit 2. Voting and Causal Responsibility [video] - Geoffrey Brennan & Geoffrey Sayre-McCord Part II. Political Liberalism and Public Reason3. Political Liberalism: Its Motivations and Goals - Charles Larmore 4. Political Liberalism, Political Independence and Moral Authority [draft] - Dale Dorsey 5. Against Public Reason [paper] - David EnochPart III. Rights and Duties6. Territorial Rights: Justificatory Strategies [draft] - A. John Simmons7. Can Reductive Individualists Allow Defense Against Political Aggression? - Helen Frowe 8. Elbow Room for Rights - Eric Mack 9. Rights and Responsibilities - Jonathan Quong & Rebecca Stone 10. What is Wrongful Exploitation? [draft] - Thomas ChristianoPart IV. Method11. Value Freeness and Value Neutrality in the Analysis of Political Concepts - Ian Carter

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Harvard Philosophy Department has uploaded John Rawls' lectures on "Modern Political Philosophy" in the spring semester of 1984 (audio only). All eleven lectures are now available:Lecture 1Introduction; Fundamental ideas (social cooperation, a well-ordered society).See Lecture 1 in John Rawls's book "Political Liberalism" (Columbia University Press, 1993), and his "Justice as Fairness" (Belknap Press, 2001), pp. 1-12.

Lecture 2Fundamental ideas (the basic structure of society, the original position, free and equal persons).See Lecture 1 in John Rawls's book "Political Liberalism" (Columbia University Press, 1993), and his book "Justice as Fairness" (Belknap Press, 2001), pp. 14-24.

Larry Temkin gave a lecture on "Equality as Comparative Fairness" at the Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm, on May 20, 2015.You can view a video of his lecture here:Abstract:"The goal of this talk is modest. It is simply to help illuminate the nature of egalitarianism. More particularly, I aim to show what certain egalitarians are committed to, and to suggest, though certainly not prove, that equality, as these egalitarians understand it, is an important normative ideal that cannot simply be ignored in moral deliberations.In doing this, I will distinguish between different kinds of egalitarian positions, and indicate the type of egalitarianism with which I am concerned, which I call equality as comparative fairness. I will discuss the relations between equality, fairness, luck, and responsibility, and defend egalitarianism against rival views that focus on subsistence, sufficiency, or compassion. I will also defend egalitarianism against the leveling down objection, and illustrate egalitarianism’s distinct appeal, in contrast to prioritarianism’s."See also his paper, forthcoming in "Journal of Applied Ethics".Larry Temkin is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He is the author of "Inequality" (Oxford University Press, 1993), and "Rethinking the Good: Moral Ideals and the Nature of Practical Reasoning" (Oxford University Press, 2012).